World Cup Setup Could Have Been Better, Brazil Sports Chief Says

Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo told reporters, “What we did and are doing reflects the possibilities of hosting a Cup in a country with the conditions of Brazil.” Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The top Brazilian government
official responsible for this year’s World Cup soccer tournament
says his country could have done everything better to prepare
for global sport’s most-watched event.

The buildup to the event, the first time the competition
has been staged in Brazil since 1950, has been beset by problems
including cost overruns and delays at almost every one of the 12
new and refurbished stadiums that will stage matches. Several
urban mobility projects that had been promised for the monthlong
soccer showpiece either won’t be ready in time or were scrapped
entirely.

“What we did and are doing reflects the possibilities of
hosting a Cup in a country with the conditions of Brazil,”
Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo told reporters yesterday in
Brasilia. “These are the historic conditions of every country.
We’ll do it within our possibilities.”

Brazil is spending about $11 billion on the World Cup. The
costs of the tournament have led to criticism and protests.
Brazil’s biggest demonstrations in a generation coincided with
the Confederations Cup, a World Cup warmup event last June.
Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to quell crowds amid
chants that called for funding of schools and hospitals instead
of the new soccer arenas.

A poll released late last month showed Brazilians’ appetite
for hosting the June 12-July 13 tournament has reached its
lowest point since it was awarded staging rights seven years
ago. Asked what could have been done to prepare Brazil better
for the World Cup, Rebelo answered “everything.”

Support Plummets

Datafolha, a Sao Paulo-based polling group, said 52 percent
of Brazilians are in favor of hosting the event. That’s down
from 79 percent support in the same poll in 2008. Earlier this
week Sepp Blatter, the president of soccer’s world governing
body FIFA, said neither he nor Brazilian President Dilma
Rousseff will be making a speech before the first game on June
12. Both were jeered before the Confederations Cup opener in
Brasilia on June 15.

“What exists is a campaign against the World Cup by
desperate sectors in the media,” Rebelo said. “But it won’t be
enough.”

Despite the setbacks, Rousseff promised the “Cup of Cups”
in a soccer-mad country that has won more World Cups than any
other. Brazil is going for a record-extending sixth World Cup
title. Rebelo believes Brazil’s soccer pedigree is enough to
overcome the negativity surrounding the buildup to the event.

“We participated in 19 cups, won five, we’ve given and
continue to give great soccer stars to the world. What more do
you want from Brazil?” he asked.

For many including Rai, who captained Brazil in its first
match of the 1994 World Cup, a competition that it ended up
winning, good performances on the field aren’t enough.

“I think Brazil could have used it better,” Rai, co-founder of Sao Paulo-based marketing company Rai+Velasco, said
in a recent interview. “Lots of money has been wasted because
of planning. We knew seven years ago, and I think every
Brazilian knows it could have been better.”